South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1887-07-08
NARROW NUBIA.
A Great strip OF Country
Which Borders the. Nile.
Sights Among the Most Religious of all
Mohammedan,.

Cleveland Leader, has been dubbed n
land about five miles wide, but Nubia is
nearer five rods Sill, il one calls the
desert I'm, both countries have an
abundant fu?ply. 1t is the Nile thai
makes whatever cultivablc soil there ID.
aud in ha;ter Egypt exclusive Of course.
Of the Dilta,) there is often green ex-
pansc quite wide enough to give the
landscape smiling aspect. As for NJ.
bia, the river must crowd itself THROUGH
more hiliy region whose black, forbid.
ding rocks spread themselves Ike rustv
mourning all over the country, and well
she may be in mourning, with but the
narrow, ribbon-likc strip of mud which
the river has deposited against the hill.
sides for the poor inhabitant to use.
Along the Nubian Nile, therefore.
villages arc less numerous than in
Egypt, it often being days Jour
ncy from one to another. They nut.
'loo, stand away from the river; huddled
between the hills are they, or back in
the desert, lest an inch of the prccious
mud be lost The native, thus rudclv
thrust forth from his bu. hardly subsistinp
mother country, has to seek employment
in the richer low lands, and ut Cairo ono
Is continually encountering him look ing
desperately uncomfortable in semi
European Crcss. He is greatly in de-
mand there for service as porter. water
carrier, or house servant, for which
though he may not have Egyptian acute
ness, his undeniable patience and
honesty we'll fit him. This narrow
scanty land of Nubin, really reclaimed
from Nile washings, might be quite de-
stroycd by its immense environment of
shifting sand, on the one side from the
Arabian, on the other from the Lbyan
desert, four times as large, were it
not Tor two constantly working in
sntu'ions. The first, the shaduf. is an
arrangement somewhat like a well. hay
ing baskct-buckets which are filed Inv n
iciIah, then raised by means of pole
ana weight, the water falling into
trough, which is quickly scooped out by
The b ickcts Of 4 second worker standing
above, who sends the water into vet
higher trough, and so into canals which
lIriSate the land. The second institu-
ton is the sakiyeb, wheel. to whose
reVoiVinS spokcs arc fastened earthen
Jars which fill in the river and then arc
raised until they ladlc their contents into
an artificial reservoir. Oxen turn the
transverse wheel crank, and, as no oil is
ever used, the pitilcss crcak of wood
against wood goe, on unremittinclv
night and day.
But of all sights here, the fcllah him
self Is the most interesting. This "cut-
ter, or plower, in Egypt looks exactly
the same ms the bas-relicfs show the fell
lah OF ancient times to have been a
broad -shouIdercd, narrow-hipped indi-
yduaI, with arather taking bronze com
pIcNIon. Here in NuDia, though, these
blackamoors, with their woolly hair
thick, protruding lips, and fat noses,
however good their figures, are the yisi-
h,e signs that VIC have reached a lower
grade of intelligence Their language is
one derived from purely African sources;
hut the scant garments Of the "vilc
G; of Cush' speaks for the eli
mate rather than the lower social scale.
The Nubian, whose country numbers
MT a single Christian, is of oil Moham-
mcdaus, the most religious. If anything
'nrrr scs him he quickly says: what
wonders God docs" or, "Allah is
mighty The very water carrier going
along the street cries, so may God re-
ward me-" and tho night watchman: al
'HtoI the perfection Of Living King, who
-Icopoth not nor dioth." But above all
or"out is he, as five times day he
spreads his prayer rug and washes face,
irct, and hands at the voice OF Belal's
successors from the minaret. A wall
seems that voice, rising and falling. and
lying away like the wind, breathing,
'.'' ~ hlldils iHcTc Is no Otner bDU
hutho, and Mohammcd is his prophet
Come unto prayer, como unto salvation.
There is no God but the Lord, while at
hrk Of day may b, heard the addi-
n"nl admonition, Prayer is better
tAnn Iecp."
y strange custom is that the houses
(Which arc built out # sun dried clay
Tr,s, ,r Of no bricks Mt all but simply
''. sun dried c'ay,) falling TO pieces,
n." rr..y repaired, but left TO resolve
again into their original Nile mud, and
T." ones constructed. These, however,
..s old enough in their most youthful
youth, and arc ornamcntcd, the best Of
".m with row of water jugs as
'.wc., and covered with thaich and
mud They look ugly and hot enough.
too 'o-day, rs they are unfragrant, for
'0o very ground is aiding the sun in
giving forth heat Only tho shade is
%. rlJ'cF tho sand is like walking on
.n oven
m. ill.,.